Popular Princes Park littered by dog poo, holes

A popular Caulfield sportsground is being turned into “one massive toilet” and cricket matches are being delayed because of an abundance of dog poo and dangerous holes across the grounds.

Emma-Jayne Schenk

2 min read

March 4, 2019 - 12:00AM

Caulfield Glen Eira Leader

Gary Murray is fed up with finding dog poo at Princes Park. Picture: James Ross

Inner South

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Reckless dogs are running rampant in Melbourne’s inner south, turning a popular sportsground into “one massive toilet” and stopping play during matches.

Cricketers are so fed up with ovals at Princes Park in Caulfield being overrun with faeces, holes being dug by dogs, and games being interrupted by off-leash dogs, they’re calling on the council to start fining those not looking after their pets.

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South Caulfield Cricket Club grounds adviser Gary Murray said every week, the ovals were “trashed” by off-leash dogs all because their owners didn’t care.

And he fears someone will break a leg by slipping on poo or falling in a hole, unless something is done.

“It’s a complete lack of respect and the club pays good money to use the grounds, only to have them destroyed,” Mr Murray said.

He said a game was even delayed in December until council workers came to clean up poo and fill in 12 holes — and some matches were put on hold during play while dogs ran through the oval.

“Someone will get hurt and the destroyed area just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” Mr Murray said.

“The only solution is to make it dogs on-lead... because kids are running around here and it’s just plain dangerous.”

Off leash dogs are a common occurrence at the popular Caulfield South sportsground.

Park users also took to Facebook to complain.

Andrew Sugarman described Princes Park as “one massive dog toilet”, saying the poo continued along the Rosstown Rail Trail to Grange Rd.

“Where are the council rangers? If it was a parked car two seconds over the marked time it would have a ticket slapped on it,” he said.

Maria Cipriati said poo was everywhere and in Hopetown gardens, the kids had to walk on the path as it’s “like a bomb zone”.

Not even electronic signage is helping.

The council’s planning and place director Ron Torres said Glen Eira’s limited open space was partly to blame and said the council received 45 poo complaints last year.

But he said the problem was hard to manage as patrolling officers were often tending to other issues such as dogs allegedly being run off-leash causing a nuisance to other animals and park users.

“This activity often diminishes our officers’ ability to conduct routine park patrols throughout the wider municipality,” he said.

Mr Torres said officers also tried to educate dog owners, through media releases, brochures, and signage.